Frequently Asked Questions

Q:How do I know the donation actually goes to the needy students?

A:Please be assured that all your donation does directly to the needy students. The key is openness in every aspect of this operation. Tonghai Yang covers the expenses (registration fee and so on), and ecery participating school contributes 200 Yuan RMB a year to cover the operation expenses in China. All work is done by volunteers, and no one gets paid. Here is the procedure we employ to ensure that your support directly supports the needy students:

  1. Students fill out an application form, which requires references and recommendations from two teachers and the principal. This occurs in March.
  2. Volunteers at Zhong Mei Ai Xin interview the needy students in person.
  3. School volunteer teacher, after consulting with class main teachers, recommend students to Zhong Mei Ai Xin for financial support and send Zhong Mei Ai Xin each student's application form. Zhong Mei Ai Xin made final decision based on resources and student's financial situation.
  4. Each school publicly announces the scholarship winners at least three days before distribution of the scholarship. This allows the public to voice concern and to monitor.
  5. To receive a scholarship, students and guardians must meet with school volunteer teacher. If book fees and other school fees were already paid, then the students’ family keep the money. Otherwise, the fees are deducted from the support. If a family is known to be irresponsible (I did meet one), the student’s main teacher and the principle sign a receipt for the student and take care of the money for the students (buy lunches and/or school supply if any was left after school fees).
  6. The Zhong Mei Ai Xin publishes the names of the scholarship recipeints (Chinese) as well as donation and expenses(Chinese) in the local paper, Today’s Ninguo, so the public can monitor. NSUSEA puts these information on web for public support, awareness and monitoring.
  7. Finally, I like to mention that all the volunteers have been to some needy students' homes. Believe me, once you have been there, you are left with such a strong impression on positive impact of our efforts.

Q: Where does your program cover?

A: Although, we originally only supported my home county Ningguo, Anhui in 2004, we expanded it to Yushe County, Shangxi in 2008, Jingzhai County, Anhui in 2011, HuiNing County Gansu in 2016, and YiYang County, Jiangxi in 2017. We will continue to expand when we have more resources and trusted local volunteers who are willing to do the ground work year after year. Our first and foremost prority is to assure that your generous donation really goes to the needy students 100 percent. We want real difference as you do.

Q: How much of my donation will directly go to the children?

A: All of you money will go to the children 100 percent. Dr. Yang covers overhead in US, and part of the member fee of Zhong Mei Ai Xin is used to cover the overhead in China.

Q: How do you choose students to help?

A: We send a letter and forms to schools. Teachers ask the needy students to fill up part of the form about his/her family's financial difficulty. Two teachers check and sign on the form and give the form to the principle. The principle discuss with teachers and sign up to 10 neediest student forms and send them to Mr. Jining Hu, the executive director in charge of the HEF's daily operation in Ningguo. Mr. Hu and a group of volunteers check on the authenticity of the applications, and decide to distribute your donation to the neediest students. Since we have just started this charity, we started small this year and collected 140 application forms from about half of the `central' Elementary schools (having all grades 1-6), half of the middle schools, and all the high schools (only 5 of them). Our first priority will be on elementary and middle school students.

Further concerns or questions?

If you have any question, please contact me (Tonghai Yang) at thyang63@gmail.com or (608)-770-3229.

Please make your donation by writing a check payable to The Hometown Education Foundation (HEF), and send it to

Hometown Education Foundation
c/o Tonghai Yang
9 W. Geneva Cir.
Madison, WI 53717

or simply use Paypal (left) to make an online donation (very simple). We will update the donor list on the web periodically (together with donation amount) to show our appreciation of your generous help and the openness of the process. If you prefer to keep your donation anonymous, please let us know. We will keep it that way.

If you prefer personal contact, we can make arrangements for you to sponsor one or more students. We hope this will bring you even more personal satisfaction by seeing, first hand, how much of a difference your contribution makes. Here is your suggested annual contribution:

$80+ to sponsor an elementary school student for a year (600 Yuan RMB),

$100+ to sponsor a middle school student for a year (800 Yuan RMB), and

$200 to sponsor a high school student for a year (1200 Yuan RMB).

It is simple, just email me (thyang63@gmail.com) and let me know how many kids you would like to sponsor and what , if any, preference you have on students. We will ask the student(s) to write one letter (usually around Chinese New Year) to you and we also collect one transcript to you once a year. You are more than welcome to communicate with them direclty although unnecessary. Your communication is an extra inspiration and encouragement to them.

Again your help is greatly appreciated and will make a huge impact on the needy young lives. If you have any question, please feel free to contact me at thyang@math.wisc.edu or (608) 263-4219.

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